To the End of the Rainbow (where is my yellow brick road?)
by InsaneScriptist
Summary: Tsuna starts out on his pokemon journey in the (in)famous Rainbow League. He makes friends including one bored ghost!trainer by the name of Daemon Spade who knew his great-great-grandfather Giotto, founder of Team Vongola!
1. The Day it All Began

**Chapter 1: The Day it All Began**

Sawada Tsunayoshi felt that his life took a turn for the absurd when his mother invited in a traveler from the groomers. It happened from time to time, as his mother was a well known pokegroomer who had settled down and ran a small business in Namimori. Mostly they were locals, relatives of locals or friends who would stay for the day, weekend or week as travel was restored between the Isles.

It wasn't that unusual as the Gravity Isles were a small place of the world and very difficult to get to region; impossible to enter or leave at certain times of the year. Therefore while the Gravity Isles had places to stay -mainly in the pokecenters for traveling trainers- there really wasn't a great business for tourists except for those who were from other islands in the island chain.

(There were less of those than people would think as it was a popular school trip to visit other islands.

That some students already had because they had visited relatives all over the Isles was beside the point.

So the tourism industry in the gravity islands was pretty much dead with no hope of revival.)

So being a long-time resident of the Gravity Isles his mother would bring home the occasional stray to feed good food instead of whatever the pokecenter would feed the traveling trainer.

And Tsuna could see how it happened, judging by the ninetales at the blue-haired man's side:

 _"Hi, my ninetales needs some grooming."  
_

 _"Oh, she's gorgeous, so tell me all about her while I get to clean her up."  
_

 _The ninetales' owner would tell his mother things and where he was staying and then his mother would_ insist _on feeding him a proper meal_.

What Tsuna didn't expect:

"Tsu-kun! I found you a mentor for your poke-journey! You've been putting it off and now all your peers have been out on their journeys for years now, but better late than never right?"

"Urk." Tsuna said. There went his hikikomori existence on Canzone Foresta of the Gravity Isles.

He had liked not having to go outside and deal with people who called him dame-Tsuna once he had finished his compulsory education; terrible grades but he still finished it! If anything, school had taught him that he was not meant for a pokejourney as he was not smart enough or athletic enough to actually you know, survive a pokejourney! He'd die and then his pokemon would die! Plus his mother would be all alone!

Not that he actually had a pokemon to go on a journey with. If he needed a pokemon he normally used his mother's Furfrou, Puff. His father had tried to give him a few but he wasn't around often enough to know that Tsuna was scared of small dog-like pokemon thanks to his Snubbull!

Tsuna could groom pokemon with the best of them -his mother was a world-class groomer, like his father was a world-famous poke-coordinator much to Tsuna's embarrassment- but he wasn't a trainer or even a pet-owner.

He really had no idea if he was even registered as one. His mother was good about forging his signature on paperwork. And then filing it.

He was pretty sure it was a crime, but it wasn't like the Gravity Isles were like the rest of the world and he could tell a Jenny; the clan of police Officers were scarce in the Gravity Isles, possibly because of Hibari.

Hibari was technically on his pokejourney but he and his Lucario came into town at least once a year and bit all the violators of his rule to death. Most of the daily work was done by the Disciplinary Committee or the Liquidation Committee which was a bit worse because Adel was also a Gym Leader in the local Terra League and so had no time for dealing with idiots. Kusakabe and his Grovyle did a good job of keeping Namimori safe anyway.

"But mom, won't you be lonely?"

"Silly Tsu-kun, I've got friends and since I know you'd be safe and learning how to be a man I can meet up with your father. Why on his last contest, I noticed Parsley had soot marks in his mane! Whoever groomed that Pyroar had no idea what they were doing! It's a miracle that Iemitsu placed as well as he did! My poor husband."

"Wait, so you were just staying here because I was?"

"Tsu-kun it was obvious you were struggling so I stayed to help you through school and beyond but you're thirteen now. A lot of other kids have been on their pokejourneys for years by now and are experienced trainers going onto other careers. Your mother wasn't the best at everything, which is why she traveled with friends and an experienced trainer. Daemon here is willing to take you along to the next region he goes to. Show you the ropes."

"But we don't even know each other! And who dresses like that?" Tsuna said in protest, appealing to logic and common sense.

"Let me, Mrs Sawada." Daemon said smoothly in a voice that Tsuna knew would have his classmates 'kyaa'-ing at the sound. They hadn't even been introduced -properly- and he was already murdering what little self-esteem Tsuna had. The man -he was an adult, although he looked young- had oddly styled blue hair, purple eyes and dressed in an odd military like fashion. "My name is Daemon Spade. This is Maria," he said petting the ninetales. "She's been my companion for some time now."

"He's done a couple of league challenges before and has dabbled in various pokemon contests and other events, so you should be fine with him. Plus doesn't he look trustworthy?"

Tsuna would rather trust the resident pokemaniac and fellow hikihomori Irie Shoichi's online friend Byakuran than this guy. Tsuna got bad vibes from Byakuran from a couple of photos of him on Shoichi's screen. Tsuna did not want to meet him.

Tsuna did not like this. At all.

"But I don't have a pokemon!"

'Well, Mama's been planning something like this…" She said as she left the room for a bit and returned with a pokeball. How weird. His mother normally didn't keep her pokemon in pokeballs because she was claustrophobic and she worried that they'd be too. "Here. I got this little guy from a breeder friend of mine."

"What is he?"

"He's a fox pokemon, so we won't have those issues you have with dog-type pokemon. Plus Daemon already has experience with fox-type pokemon so you'll really benefit!"

"Stop trying to sell him so hard Mom!" Tsuna whined, as he took the pokeball. "Is this guy even registered to me?"

"Yup! It was one of the first things I did after realizing he was a perfect starter for you!"

Great, Tsuna was pretty sure that was several laws broken there. Maybe? A few moments later Tsuna realized that Daemon and his mother were waiting on him, released the pokemon, showing a well-cared for Fennekin.

"Not the Vulpix I was expecting but still a fox-pokemon." Daemon admitted, as the two foxes sniffed at each other. "It'll be interesting. I haven't worked with a Fennekin before, although I've seen a Delphox at work before. Can't forget that as it was a very impressive showing."

There was something about _how_ Daemon said that which suggested that his mom had been taken advantage of by a mass-murderer or something. Now, Tsuna knew he was doomed to end up dead in one of those 'accidents' that happen to trainers that aren't publicized on the news.

This was not going to end well. He was going to suffer at the hands of this con-artist killer. Then he'd die.

* * *

Later, Tsuna would look back and reflect that his thought then was so accurate. Well, the first one was accurate. He still wasn't sure how he managed to not be found in a ditch dead. Daemon was a vengeful ghost after all and despised weakness and he hadn't been anything special back then; distinctly under average really.

Of course back then, he hadn't been the youngest winner of the Rainbow League either or anything but a teenager turning into a full-fledged hikikomori. Tsuna missed those days.

Things made _sense_ then. The Stella Region/Kingdom didn't and did not care to either. He really missed his hikikomori days.

* * *

A/N: Had this up on AO3 for a couple of days. Pokemon solves writer's block. The key to writing Daemon is pokemon. Who would have thought?


	2. A fox named Fox

**Chapter 2: A fox named Fox**

Tsuna probably would have left the conversation trail off there due to his hikikomori social skills.

However his mother was not burdened by hikokomori social skills and was actually intensively active in both the local and pokegroomer communities; she had actual adult social skills!

She could also pretend to not notice things so well that people thought she was a bit dim instead of polite; world-class grooming skills did not appear without a brain. Today, his mother was pretending that the awkwardness between him and Daemon didn't exist.

She did it quite well; lots and lots of practice with various topics and things. It worked well for her, but not for Dame-Tsuna.

"So what are you going to name your Fennekin, Tsu-kun?"

"Er," He stalled, while trying to think of an appropriate name.

"I suggest something that his Fennekin won't outgrow. So nothing like Fennel as Fennekin evolves into a Braixen and then a Delphox." Daemon suggested. His Ninetales' name was Maria right? Not that it was Tsuna's place to say so, but he thought people that gave pokemon people names were a bit strange.

"Well, Tsu-kun has to be grown-up in his own way. He can't borrow Papa's naming scheme!"

"Naming scheme?" Daemon asked in what Tsuna knew was something like morbid curiosity and dread; something Tsuna felt anytime his father was mentioned. The ferries to, from and around the Gravity Isles had issues on a regular basis but television never had that problem and his mother was an avid watcher of all of his father's events; that he hosted or participated in. Sawada Iemitsu spent far more time on the small-screen in the house than actually in the house. He hadn't even visited for _years_.

It was also terrible that most of his classmates also did watch the same shows for the same person if for a different reason; his father was embarrassing for Tsuna. For everyone else, he was very entertaining and ammo to make fun of his son with.

"Spices and herbs! Parsley is his Pyroar, but he has Salt and…" Nana continued to say, listing a few more pokemon as an example.

"Can I not name it?"

"Him." His mother reminded him. "And while some trainers don't name their pokemon, I believe that naming pokemon allows for new trainers and pokemon to bond faster, so long as the pokemon likes the name of course."

Which meant his mother would be disappointed if he didn't, especially since this was his first pokemon. His starter.

What to name his starter… there was a reason he nearly flunked the art classes too. Creative he was not. If anything, he was distressingly dull.

Some sort of quality? Fennekin were a fire-type, warm and fluffy. Liked to eat twigs, from what he could remember. The fur in the ears could get brittle due to the heat that the fox-type pokemon could give off.

Maybe something like the pokemon's nature? No, he hadn't really spent much time around Fennekin, but Tsuna was certain that the fox was of a more serious nature than his mother's Furfrou, Puff. It was probably a good sign for him except, it didn't solve the name issue.

Naming it -him- after a color would be shallow and a cop-out, and well… there really wasn't a clever name he could think of that didn't involve Inari, the fox god or some sort of pop culture about foxes. He really should use his pokedex for more than games but he had beta-tested a lot of the apps for Shoichi and his more normal online friend Spanner. At this rate he'd have to name his fox-pokemon Fox.

There was an idea. Foxes…. Fennekin was a fox and it was probably the most clever thing he could think of.

"Fox." He decided, seeing how the Fennekin adjusted to the new name.

"You named your fox-pokemon, Fox." Daemon said. Tsuna heard tones of incredulity with 'you simple-minded twit' coloring his voice. It was the very sound of cultured offense. It sounded like Tsuna had just offended Daemon down to his bones.

Good.

(His poor self-esteem has not only died but has been mutilated. It is probably a just revenge. Not quite mutually-assured destruction but close enough for Dame-Tsuna.)

"What a wonderful name Tsu-kun!" His mother cooed. "What do you think Fox?"

Fox the Fennekin yawned.

"I think he doesn't mind it." Tsuna said. Plus with this sort of name, he could remember it. It wasn't an elegant name but Tsuna wasn't an elegant person either. Besides the only 'elegant' name he could remember was Voltair at the moment and he wasn't sure who that was. Some history-person so it was off of his potential name list because it was a person's name anyway. Plus it really was terrible of him history-wise considering he was named after a shogun of some other region. He could never remember if it was Johto or Kanto though as some sort of family tradition thing.

He may have relatives over there on his father's side of the family, so it was best to avoid them in case they were like his father; he could also have traveling relatives but no one bothered a hikikomori who had no redeeming skills and few people came to the Gravity Isles anyway. What was Daemon doing here anyway?

And while Fox was a 'plain' name, it was a little better than Puff for a Furfrou right?

"He looks a little bored. Do you know how to battle pokemon? Or even defend yourself?" Daemon asked, in a pained voice. Like he was asking why Tsuna was so pathetic. Was Daemon expecting something from him that wasn't Dame-Tsuna?

"Um, yeah." Because all those hours playing games on his pokedex had to be good for something right? And while he had generally the worst stats in the subject of physical education at school, the Gravity Isles also included a mandatory self-defense course involving lots of things. Tsuna had paid attention during those and his skill at dodging was very good until his horrible stamina caught up with him. Then he was doomed.

"Good. Let's see how you and Fennekin do." Daemon suggested in a way that was pointedly not a suggestion.

His mother and new pokemon were all for it too. Traitors.

* * *

There was a small clearing not too far from his mother's home. With two fire-types, there was a lot of reasons to not have them 'battle' inside his home.

Not unless Daemon was going to use a different pokemon and then they'd still have a fire-type pokemon fighting inside.

"Maria, are you willing?"

The Ninetales did not look willing. In fact she looked distinctly unimpressed and offended to be asked. Sassy then? Maybe some other nature; Ninetales lived a long time.

"Ah, so another pokemon then. Come Dawn." Daemon called. One of the pokeballs on his belt cracked open, revealing an Espeon. Daemon was psychic then? Had to be.

Fox howled and then spat embers at the Espeon.

Espeon quickly dodged the burning embers, bouncing off a tree and-

"Fox, dodge and scratch!"

The little fox pokemon did so, scoring a glancing blow on the Espeon. _That's right_ , Tsuna remembered. _Espeon fur was very sensitive and Dawn's tail was twitching so it was using its psychic powers to determine the flow of battle._

Well, mom did say she got Fox from the breeder and breeders were all about teaching pokemon moves they didn't normally learn from their other parent species. Plus Mom didn't really deal with sub-par breeders so best to take his chances here.

"Make a Wish and follow it up with Heat Wave." Tsuna ordered. Fox sat on his haunches and put his little paws together. To make a wish. That was terribly cute.

"Swift" Daemon called out; mostly for Tsuna's benefit. Stupid psychics and their psychic pokemon not having to speak to coordinate attacks.

The Swift hit, but so did the recovery effect of the Wish. Then the Heat Wave hit the Espeon, but was too weak to do a significant amount of damage.

"Quick attack." Daemon commanded, and his little Fennekin was done in and rolled right into Tsuna's legs.

"Good job Fox." Tsuna told the little bundle of fur, reaching to pick the Fennekin up. Fox had bit him. "Ouch! Mom, I'm bleeding." He said holding up his hand.

"Oh, poor Tsu-kun! I'll bandage that right up." She promised.

"Mrs Sawada, if Tsuna's going to be leaving on his pokejourney soon, shouldn't he know how to bandage his own wounds?" Oh, there was the polite condescending vocal sub-text again.

"Oh, right. I just want to fuss over him some more, before he leaves. He's just grown up so fast that I just can't help myself."

"Aw, mom don't cry." Tsuna told her. "I'll be fine. Daemon will bring me back in a year, and I'll be all healthy and happy with lots of stories to tell you."

"Promise?"

"Well, we could be a little late if the ferry goes out." He admitted. The benefit of this sort of promise was that Daemon couldn't kill him and drop his corpse in a ravine or in the ocean somewhere until after Tsuna had seen his mother at least one more time.

The only drawback would be spending a year with the creepy psychic Daemon and his pokemon but that would happen anyway; this way Daemon at least had to return him to his mother.

* * *

Author's Notes: Finally put up on this site. Also Fox's nature is not set in stone; pretty sure it is a seriously serious little Fennekin though.


	3. Travel Troubles for the Disembodied

**Chapter 3: Travel Troubles for the Disembodied**

Now that Tsuna had a pokemon and no reason to avoid a poke-journey, plus a promise to not show up for a year, he had to pack for his trip. Why couldn't he stay a hikikomori?

In this sense having more people would be better; they could split the essentials like cooking supplies, the tent and food. It was only him and Daemon though, so the amount they were carrying was split, but not enough for someone as weak as Tsuna was. He knew he was pathetic.

Thankfully, Fox was a fire-type, so unless Fox was somehow dead or otherwise incapable and Tsuna had been separated from Daemon, they wouldn't need supplies like matches or really have to scrounge for firewood, much less cut it down if they needed to cook something. Fire-types also meant that Tsuna really didn't need the extra blankets because the Fennekin could sleep with him in the tent or even in Tsuna's sleeping bag, keeping him warm.

That meant his backpack had more space in it for other things beyond the essentials. The essentials being: a few changes of clothing, a heavier coat, a pancho with hood to cover him and his pack in case of rain, cooking supplies including food plus a small spice rack, medical supplies for people ranging from bandages to cold medicine, medical supplies for pokemon, hygiene supplies for him and his pokemon, the tent, a sleeping bag, a map of the world, his pokedex and a few other things his mother tossed in like laundry soap and accessories for his pokemon.

It seemed like too much and not enough. What were they missing?

"Pokeballs." Daemon intoned, as he had watched both of them pack. "Money. Tsuna's Trainer-ID card."

"Uh…" Tsuna stalled as he tried to think about where it went. "Where did that go? I remember passing that test." Barely. Mostly by dint of actually impressing the off-Island official with all his pokegroomer knowledge. It had made it look like he knew a lot more than he did.

"You could always get it reissued by the local league if you need to. It's been a few years after all, so it needs to get a more current photo…" His mother told him. "Plus you can see Enma! Well, if he's in. That poor boy is so busy after all…"

Tsuna might have terrible social skills but he knew what his mother meant; several years ago, when his dad had actually visited for like two days, Enma had both his parents murdered and witnessed it. His younger sister had barely made it and only through the heroic efforts of one of their parent's pokemon who had died afterwards. Tsuna's father had actually been accused of it but he had an alibi as one of his pokemon had needed to go to the pokecenter after a new double-routine practice session went wrong. Plus, the ferries keep records of their passengers and the entire massacre more or less happened within an hour; not nearly enough time to travel to all the Isles.

All that the massacre meant was that someone -more plausibly a group- had tried to systematically destroy Team Shimon by murdering all of them on the Gravity Isles. This would have destroyed not only the Terra League but also the Gravity Isles because the Shimon were pretty much part of the Isles.

The Gravity Isles were dependent on the Shimon Clan and the local legendary pokemon. Otherwise, the isles would sink and well, despite that danger, the islands were well populated. The Isles were a very nice, isolated place; the people friendly, the food good -despite the lack of tourist traps or maybe because of it- and he had been going somewhere else with his thoughts.

Right, Shimon and how they and the Gravity Isles were connected. The Gravity Isles technically lost an island during that massacre; it hadn't fully sank but the highest point of that island was still underwater. It had been slow work for the past five years to slowly raise it, however that worked; it was still underwater, but now people could stand on the highest point of the island and not drown if they were tall enough. Tsuna wasn't tall enough.

Tsuna might have nearly failed history, but the people of the Gravity Isles knew better than to murder any Shimon because they balanced the Isles into staying above sea-level somehow; some secret art. In some ways, the Shimon were like priests and priestesses so they were respected, no matter how odd some of them were. It helped that they kept powerful pokemon as well as that meant they became Gym Leaders when the Pokemon League reforms swept the world.

Sometime when the Pokemon-something was started as a way to prevent people and pokemon from dying in warfare against other regions, lords or nations and Pokemon battling became a sport, those in power locally with powerful pokemon were chosen to become Gym Leaders, although the concept of Gyms and Leagues and poke-journeys were a couple of generations away; basically it meant that the Shimon had become important not only to the Isles but the world due to having the Terra League.

The Terra League wasn't world-famous being in a small series of islands -ten in total, one in the center and eight around it at compass points- that were hard to get to plus the Shimon 'Holy Land' which was even more impossible to get to, but it really didn't mean much. To make the Shimon more inclusive and more humble, one of Enma's ancestors had formed Team Shimon after he had taken his own poke-journey and become the clan head.

Team Shimon had a particular code in being humble in whatever you do for the good of the community which meant that all members of Team Shimon did community service of some sort or another. Some helped out neighbors, others volunteered -locally, as there weren't enough Shimon to spare so the current Shimon could travel unless they wanted to risk the Gravity Isles sinking- and well, they were busy with important duties.

Anyway, since there were so few of the Shimon left, all those remaining more or less were busy constantly; between whatever they did to keep the isles afloat, running the gyms, doing their Team duties and even school in most cases before they were done with the compulsory education.

Tsuna had helped Enma out a while after Enma had transferred into his class and had been exhausted due to it which explained why Enma was often asleep during class; the curriculum in public schools in being made the same all over the Gravity Isles so transfers from island to island was easy in theory. Less so in practice, because some classes were ahead or behind and people weren't always welcoming, especially because Enma was constantly exhausted and generally failing at everyday tasks. Tsuna didn't have that excuse, but at least Enma wouldn't have school to worry about now.

"Maybe I'll see him over at Terra." Tsuna told her. "That'd be nice. Musica's a nice place and not having a trainer ID-card is illegal." There was a small fine to pay to get it reissued, so long as the information was in the database.

"Will it take long to get there?" Daemon asked. "I just arrived here not long ago…" Daemon trailed off.

There was something odd about him, Tsuna realized, more than the usual psychic stuff. Did that mean that Daemon arrived on Foresta through Jazz Palude? The ferries didn't run in that direction because of all the mangroves but if Daemon didn't go through Musica Terra, he had to have; the ferries didn't run over the sunken island so unless he rode a pokemon… It was also true that he could have come from Tamburo Montanga but since the massacre the currents had gotten rough over where the sunken isle was, so people usually didn't even attempt to try that route in years aside from the Shimon who had been raising that sunken island somehow.

"About thirty minutes more or less. Depends on who the ferryman is and which ferry." Tsuna answered. "So ID today and leave tomorrow then?" He asked Daemon.

"Yes." Daemon agreed. "Will you be fine on your own?"

"You should go with him, Daemon. It's a chance to get to know my Tsu-kun better before you leave!"

Daemon didn't look happy about that but… Tsuna's mother had pretty much shooed both of them out of the house citing the need to cook in peace after giving Tsuna enough money for the ferry to and back, plus more to cover the replacement-ID cost and get a snack for lunch.

Tsuna wondered why.

* * *

The wonder only lasted until they were out at sea on the ferry. Tsuna was leaving Fox out, so he could see the ocean and enjoy the ride. It wouldn't take the thirty minutes he had estimate it might either; the usual ferryman was out sick.

As a native of Namimori, that meant he knew exactly who had volunteered to replace the ferryman. He wore glasses and was as obsessed with boxing too: Koyo Aoba, the 'guardian' of Canzone Foresta.

Tsuna remembered that while helping Enma for a day, they had cleaned the Foresta Gym and seen Koyo Aoba utterly decimate his local challengers; a lot of his and Enma's bullies actually. The Foresta Gym was meant to be a grass-type gym but relying on a fire-type to win there was pure folly and showed in how quickly those bullies lost not only the pokebattle but the fight against the Gym Leader which was something that was only a Gravity Isles tradition.

So the ferryride was an uncomfortable twelve minute ride as Daemon had truly terrible seasickness. As in, he had been pale before the ferry had left, green a few minutes later and then sick.

The ocean was calm today, so even the high speed Koyo Aoba was going at wasn't really rocking the ferry much.

Tsuna made note of the fact that Daemon was truly terribly seasick, which made if very effective revenge material. However Daemon was psychic so Tsuna had to be careful and cunning about getting his revenge.

"Any interesting challengers lately?" He asked the volunteer ferryman.

"Planning on fighting me anytime soon? It won't matter in the end."

Tsuna had forgotten why he hated trying to talk with most of Enma's extended family. He had been reminded. Cold-hearted jerk-face.

"No, just curious. Mom found a poke-journey mentor for me and more or less told me to go and explore the world. That's Daemon," Tsuna introduced them. Daemon didn't even wave 'hello' or otherwise notice them.

"So you haven't been anywhere off the isles in the end? Just what have you been doing? Enma, that loser, hasn't seen you in ages."

"I've been helping mom with pokegrooming, learning how to take care of myself and beta-testing some of the new apps for the poke-dexes and poke-navs." Tsuna told the boxer. Some of it was even true. Just not everything. "Best to be prepared."

"I see the wisdom in that. Patience pays off in the end." The volunteer ferryman replied, nodding sage-like. "Now if only my challengers could do the same!"

"They're not aware that the Foresta Gym motto is 'exploit all weakness'?" Tsuna asked. Couldn't they read the sign? It was right next to the door.

Tsuna knew first hand that the Foresta Gym Leader might use grass-types but had pokemon to combat every weakness of the grass-type and turn the advantage his way.

"Oh, they are but they think it's all about taking fire to grass-types! If they're even greater idiots than I am, they really don't deserve that badge in the end!"

Tsuna let the Foresta Gym leader rant about the lack of quality in his challengers. The last time he -the self-proclaimed 'hope of the boxing world'- had a good match was against Sasagawa Ryohei who boxed against him multiple times for fun and somehow earned a badge for that.

(Hibari didn't count and had been beaten most of the Terra League before he even graduated school. Julie, he had beaten Julie physically but not in pokemon due to type advantages, but Hibari still had the badge. Adel and Enma remained unbeaten because the Terra League had the Clan Head as the final Gym Leader and couldn't be challenged until proven worthy. According to gossip, Hibari hadn't beaten Adel but neither had he lost and that was going to change eventually because Tsuna couldn't imagine it not.

Tsuna tried not to think about Hibari too much. Shivering in fear was not a good thing.)

* * *

The trip into town -know as Cozart Central- took less than ten minutes. Daemon was dragged to a nearby cafe by Koyo Aoba to recover.

Tsuna walked over to the building next to the pokecenter, which was pretty much empty. Talking to the clerk there had him recite his address, his parent's names and birthday so that the clerk could verify Tsuna's ID in the absence of his -since he hadn't memorized his trainer number- and paid the fee to get a new trainer-ID. 27X00. When had letters become part of trainer IDs? Had he really not remembered that? That was like the most simple ID ever.

A brief flash of the camera later, the ID had been printed and his photograph looked a lot like what he saw in the mirror; fluffy hair, large brown eyes and a tiny frame. It wasn't too terrible a picture, but not really a good picture either. He had his ID, time to see if Enma was in.

* * *

Enma wasn't in, but his sister was, so Tsuna left a message for Enma with Mami.

Mami was a sweet girl, and Fox didn't mind the pettings so they chatted for a bit. Mami had somehow intimidated him into agreeing to taking her along with him when he was back and she was legally allowed to be a poketrainer and take her pokejourney. Next year.

Tsuna had no idea how that had happened, but recognized it was best to get out while he could agree to do something like attempt to take over the world for her. Tsuna then obtained a snack for him and Fox and then collected Daemon while the fill-in ferryman ferried them back.

Thankfully that trip was over, but he still had no idea why Maria the ninetales seemed to enjoy her trainer's misery. He hadn't been aware that pokemon could be sadists like that.

And he had forgotten to get more pokeballs didn't he?

It really didn't matter. He didn't have the money for them anyway; his mother had only given him so much money. They could get them tomorrow at Namimori Mart.

* * *

A/N: I wrote part three. Koya Aoba needs some work how do you write him?/needs more energy, but there's worldbuilding! Also my half-ass attempts at poke-history. Plus I named some more of the Gravity Isles. Haha, my attempts at Italian are lacking, much like my attempts at describing geography of the Gravity Isles. I feel so clever for the trainer ID thing.

Everyone enjoys Daemon's misery including his ninetales.


	4. A Series of Uneventful Events

Chapter 4: A Series of Uneventful Events

* * *

Returning from Musica Terra and Cozart Central was a easy, as the waves were calm and the ferry barely rocked compared to a normal ferryman's speed; that meant the ride was very much impressively calm one even if this ferry was controlled by Koya Aoba.

Deamon however didn't seem to agree, and neither did his lunch.

Koya Aoba was concerned but at least agreed to let Daemon use his pokemon to fly back to Foresta instead of suffer the ferry. Maria the Ninetails stayed on, even as Daemon released his pokemon and was taken away before it could even land.

Thankfully, as it was… heavy.

"That was an Aerodactyl!" Koya Aoba shouted as if Tsuna hadn't just seen that.

"I saw." Tsuna echoed, even as he tried not to think about what could have happened if the Aerodactyl had landed on the ferry.

"So cool. In the end, all ancient pokemon are. Did you catch what he called him? Zeph? Stef?"

"No, I didn't." Tsuna replied, although he was sure that the Aerodactyl would have a human name like Daemon's other pokemon did. Maybe it wasn't Stephanie?

Tsuna looked at Maria who was pointedly grooming herself and Fox.

It appeared as if Fox had been adopted, or was being taken care of by the older fox pokemon at least, so he didn't have to worry about them not getting along.

* * *

Soon enough the ferry ride was over, Daemon had recovered his color and composure enough that Tsuna felt plain and his self-esteem felt small enough to put in the matchbox that Tsuna didn't need. How did the man look so regal when he had been heaving over the side of the ferry not even ten minutes ago? He didn't even have the decency to look pale or as if had been sick at all.

When Tsuna had been sick at all, he looked awful. And stayed awful looking for at least a day or two after; even if it was just a bug. That was so unfair that Daemon looked like he had walked out of a magazine or some poke-contest; the poke-contest bit at least explained what he was dressed in.

Dinner conversation at home, consisted of survival tricks, traded tips and stories of screw-ups like having a pack full of freshly bought food stolen by wild pokemon or washing clothing with the map inside of the pocket. There were brushes with dehydration, falls while climbing, why sometimes using a safety rope while climbing was a bad idea and more.

Tsuna had nothing to offer in terms of conversation other than, 'yes' and 'I'll try to remember that' and other meaningless phrases since there was no way he could remember all that was discussed, much less coherently. It wasn't like his day was all that exciting, although he did tell his mother that Koya Aoba was running the ferry that day while the usual ferryman was out sick; Tsuna would be bringing Koya Aoba leftovers though, as his mom had made a veritable feast. Once Tsuna was gone, she'd be leaving soon after and so all the food in the house had to go or it would go to waste. Mentioning Koya Aoba at all was enough for him to mention the usual ferryman being sick.

It made him rather grateful that he lived in Namimori on Foresta instead of Minuet on Jazz Palude; the Swamp Island was mostly out of the water, so long as it was low tide otherwise it would be a longer, more troublesome trip. Low tide didn't make walking of Jazz Palude safe, so most everyone had a boat and boated where ever when the water was up. They just had to paddle it, as using one with a motor was not wise when a changing tide could lead to the propeller getting buried in muck or breaking on a rock or tree root. Riding a boat was so much easier than paddling a boat, much like walking on solid ground was so much easier than walking through swamp muck.

It also allowed Tsuna to mention Daemon's seasickness, which was severe if the ferry on such a calm day made him so sick, so quickly.

That conversation didn't go exactly as Tsuna expected it to, when his mother asked if Daemon flew everywhere.

"Only if I have to. Zephyr is eye-catching and rare, so showing him off means I'll have thieves after me for ages. Most days I take the train, walk or ride another pokemon. Some are more comfortable than others, faster too sometimes. Zephyr's wonderful but sometimes I wish that I could put a saddle on him. Long rides especially but flying is easier on the body than riding a Rapidash for most of a day, lack of saddle aside."

"So what happens when poke-thieves try to take Zephyr or any of your other pokemon?" His mom asked.

"Most of the time it's easier to stop the thieves immediately or as soon as possible before you bring in the police. If it's even possible; some regions are more lawless than others. Therefore it is best to deal with them in an immediate manner that will not allow them to retaliate."

Tsuna tried not to picture broken bones, but failed. He also pictured them being dead and being dumped in a river after having all their valuables taken. Daemon wasn't that bad, was he?

"Let the police take care of the sentencing and decide the punishment for breaking the law, if it's possible. Otherwise you'll have to take matters into your own hands and just, as the phrase goes, 'deal with it,' I believe."

'Deal with it.' Tsuna thought. 'So he's _worse_ , than I thought he was. I'm pretty certain that means Daemon killed those would-be poke-thieves. He might have even ate them or left them to the scavenger pokemon to eat.' Daemon seemed like he fit the bill for a cannibal killer rather well.

"How manly." His mother cooed.

There really was worth nothing to say that sort of attitude. His mother, so upbeat, so happy, so nice and not suspicious. How envious.

Not like Tsuna was. Tsuna had had too many bullies to not be wary of someone as seemingly self-assured as Daemon. It meant that Daemon was powerful as a person. Like the Shimon Gym Leader, Hibari and others. More powerful than Tsuna at least.

The problem was that after tomorrow, he and Daemon would likely be off island and on the Aerodactyl. Tsuna didn't remember flying at all on a pokemon.

And they should probably get some pokeballs before then. He mentioned it to his mom, as they were packing up extra food to take to Koya Aoba; the ferry didn't run at night after all.

* * *

The pokeballs were a good idea to get on the way back from dropping off a feast for the Shimon Gym Leader. They were also a good deal; buy ten, get one pokeball free. Tsuna now had twenty-two and that meant he expected that he'd lose at least half of them within the week, so at least he'd have about ten chances to catch a pokemon.

That meant in the morning he would be prepared; he didn't think he'd sleep well but he did manage to go to sleep almost as soon as his head touched his pillow. So now armed with a tiny, probably recently hatched Fennekin on his shoulder and he was situated behind Daemon on Zephyr.

The Aerodactyl's body was warm and solid in a way that was unlike any chair; not even like the uncomfortable desks at school. There wasn't much of any sort of give as even the wings felt heavy, at least to the ones he had played with while his mother groomed other pokemon.

And then they were in the air, his mother waving and yelling goodbye as the Aerodactyl gained speed and height in the air.

* * *

A/N: Updated not because of pokemon go, but because of other pokemon games; was playing them.

Also posted a map of the Stella Region/Kingdom and the Gravity Isles on my tumblr of the same name. See my tag 'End of the Rainbow'.

And yes, be glad I cleaned this chapter up from what was posted on tumblr; I shouldn't write at like three am, as I make mistakes.


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